Powerbook Suddenly Has mostly Cyan color on screen

JustGretchen said:

So we were out at dinner last night with family, and the subject of computers came up and we were talking about what we'd want if we were going to get another Mac...

Well we came home from dinner and when we opened our PowerBook 1.67ghz to find that the screen has a strange Cyan hue all around it. Text boxes, the actual wallpaper graphic, etc... everything has this hue over it.

Anyone have an idea of what could be up with it. Bad video cable/connection perhaps? Or do you suspect that it may be the entire video card and in-turn, the logic board?

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It must of heard to talking at dinner about a new Mac and got PI**ED off at you

Heh. I like the theory, but actually the most likely reason is a bad internal video cable or connector, as you guessed.

You can try moving the screen hinge around or jiggling the computer a little to see if it flickers back to normal--if so, definitely the problem. If not, you could try restarting and running the usual PRAM/OpenFirmware resets (search the forum for instructions), though I doubt that'll help.

You could also try booting from the Hardware Test disc that came with it. If the screen comes up blue on that disc, then it's definitely hardware, and running the test will let you know if it's the graphics controller itself; if it doesn't find issues, probably a cable, or possibly the screen itself.

Fixing a cable isn't terribly expensive if you're comfortable dismantling the computer. Replacing the panel or controller (which would require a new motherboard) can get spendy.

Check your color settings.

That does look like a color setting. I thought at first it might be the red having gone out on either the graphic chip or the panel, but there's definitely some orange and red in the dock, and pink in the wallpaper.

I was gonna post that your screen was screwed up at the top left, then I realised you blurred out your name .

Hmm... I admit, that issue doesn't look particularly like a bad cable to me. At least, none of the cable-related problems I've personally seen.

Seems more likely it's either the chip itself or the panel itself that's acting up, since that could produce a less drastic color tweak like you're seeing there.

Question: Did you try running the Hardware Test disc to see if maybe it sees something? If it's the graphics chip/VRAM I'd expect that to find the problem. If it doesn't then it's more likely to be either the cable or the panel.

Short of cracking it open and fiddling with the cable physically, I can't think of any good way to confirm whether it's the cable or something else, though.

Cyan - nice compared to my pink !

I have had on and off a similar probleme with my MacBook Titianium.

I found that if I ran my finger along the top of the keyboard closest to the screen with a little downward pressure, the colour would flick back to normal. So I surmised a dodgy cable or connection. As it was well past its guarantee, I took off the bottom of the case (needs a Torx-9 screwdriver) and had a look thinking the video cable was pinched.

No problems at all with the cable so I looked further.

The video cable connects as a small plug on to the motherboard. I unplugged it and then plugged it back in checking it was correctly seated. At about 3/4 the way in the screen worked perfectly, fully in and it was pink again.

So to ensure it works (and has done since mid january in daily mobile use), I inserted the plug 3/4 the way, stuck a piece of insulating tape over it to hold it in position and reattached the base.

Make sure all the case screws are nice and tight to prevent the case flexing and the cable coming loose or over inserted again.

Good luck.

JustGretchen said:

It seems logical to me that if it were the vid card, and I took a screenshot, then there's a CHANCE that the screenshot wouldn't show up correctly on a 100% functional mac. Just a thought.

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That was a good test, but indeed, it isn't going to completely rule out the video card being the issue. While OSX dumps the video buffer straight to disk so screenshots WILL show some hardware problems (saw it myself at one point), if the issue is "upstream" of that point (for example, a bad trace between the chip and the motherboard connector) then screenshots would be fine.

You can hope, though, and it's not a painfully expensive experiment if you can figure out how to get the screen open. (I assume you're using the iFixit takeapart guides?)

Need to know what is the solution! I have the same cyan desease!!!

Urgent to know if I can fix it myself or I have to go to send my Mac to the hospital.

Help, please!

Same here, it just started this month. My blue hue is not consistent though, sometimes the screen looks fine, sometimes there are patterns of light blue pixels on the whole screen or just part of the screen, and sometimes different areas have a consistent blue hue. These different symptoms will change when I drag or scroll applications or open/close applications as well. I'm running a 15" PowerBook G4.

JustGretchen said:

I will try that cable thing 3/4 of the way in. That may be a good suggestion. I have already completely reseated the cable, but will try that too.

I took a screenshot tonight and sent it over to my other Mac...The screenshot was the right colors over there. It makes me think that it may just be the screen or cables at this point, though slightly flexing the screen from opposite corners doesn't make anything any better, I had found that suggestion elsewhere online.

It seems logical to me that if it were the vid card, and I took a screenshot, then there's a CHANCE that the screenshot wouldn't show up correctly on a 100% functional mac. Just a thought.

Found the cable I need online for 29 bucks...but I don't know if I can crack the display open. I tried the other day w/o success to do so.

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Hi JustGretchen, can you tell us, please, did you find out the solution to this problem? We need help to go back to normal screeeeeeennn...!
Thnks!

clenauma said:

Hi JustGretchen, can you tell us, please, did you find out the solution to this problem? We need help to go back to normal screeeeeeennn...!
Thnks!

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if the op has not replied to this thread please dont hijack it in attempt to gain an answer. also if you need to know the answer try pm'ing the op, or even better start a new thread and reference this thread. you are almost garuntied to receive more hits and get a better answer.

thanks

i know this may be an old thread, but just in case someone stumbles upon it like i did, i will give my 2 cents.

My powerbook g4 did the exact same thing the op was describing, i was watching videos using vlc and then i crashed out while they were playing into the night. i woke up to find that i had this blue tint all over my screen. i came across this post in a panic trying to figure out what happened and reading some of the posts on here, one mentioned moving the screen in an open and closing manner. low and behold the blue tint is gone. so i think the video cable may be cutting out somewhere in the screen hinge.